Women drivers defy Saudi government

Compared to every other revolutionary country in the Middle East, the Arabs of Saudi Arabia have done markedly less than the young rioters of countries such as Bahrain, Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and Libya. Although many fingers are pointed at the Saudi government for being an evil monarchy, suppressing countless freedoms and liberties, the civilians in the country do not seem to be victims of that type of monarchy. Or they just don’t care.

Last Saturday, 60 women, in a country of 21.83 million defied the government by driving. Compared to countries such as Egypt as Libya who had millions of people actively protesting in the streets, this driving “revolution” in Saudi Arabia is definitely a calmer rebellion than the world has recently experienced. Yet, for some reason, this sensation of Saudi women driving has hit Western countries by storm.

The campaigner for this rather small, but influential movement is Aziza Youssef, a Saudi professor. Her role is to contact and organize the women so that many can get behind the wheel, take pictures and record videos of this action and post them to social media sites so that the campaign may gain as much publicity as possible.

Although the turnout rate was incredibly low, this resistance made headlines in many Western newspapers and periodicals. Why? Sixty people may only be a third of the people in an intro level science class at many universities across America; however, these 60 Saudi women resisted the centralized government and made front pages.

Constituents of Western countries, like the United States truly love distinct social issues, such as woman’s rights, and place them at the crux of their political agendas. This leaves Western news media sources to directly focus on what they believe their followers will like best. Women’s rights may be a smaller issue in the larger problem of the immense centralization of power in Saudi Arabia; however, at least the word is spreading, leading to a potential avenue for freedom for these women, starting with the basic right to drive.

Alaa Wardi — who is a social activist and singer in Saudi Arabia — created the best parody I have ever seen in my life. The parody, set to a Bob Marley hit, actively supports the females who protested the driving ban on Saturday. The song is called “No Woman. No Drive,” and is one of the few examples of active social media wonders that make the small women’s resistance an international problem.

Although the movement in Saudi Arabia may have been one of the smallest in the region, Western media sources may be able to enlarge and strengthen the movements, leading people toward the core issue of Saudi Arabia, which is its distinct centralization of power and disregard for human rights.